JPH08189930A - Method for measuring comfortableness - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To quantitatively and easily measure comfortableness so as to establish a cosmetic evaluating method by using the variation of the immunological function, especially, the increase of secretory immunoglobulin, appearance and increase of a CD receptor, and increase of the activity of natural killer cells as indexes. CONSTITUTION: Comfortableness is measured by using the variation of the immunological function, especially, the increase of secretory immunoglobulin, appearance and increase of a CD receptor, and increase of the activity of natural killer cells as indexes. Namely, the secreted amounts of IgA having H α- chains and IgE having ε-chains of the immunoglobulin are measured as the IgA concentration of secretory immunoglobulin and IgE concentration in blood and the increasing rate of IgA and decreasing rate of IgE are used as the index of comfortablenss. In addition, the increasing rate of the appearing amount of CD receptors and increasing rate of the activity of natural killer cells are also used as the index of comfortableness. To be concrete, they can be used as indexes for evaluating cosmetics for skin, cosmetics for hair, cleaning agents, and bathing agents.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for measuring comfort, and more particularly to a method for measuring comfort using changes in immune function as an index. In addition, the present invention relates to a method for evaluating cosmetics and medical products using comfort as an index.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is universally accepted that comfort is very important for smooth human life. When human beings lose their comfort and feel emotional pressure, for example, when they are left in an extremely stressed state for a long time, they are not only mentally but physically altered. A good example is the modern illness represented by overwork. These unknowingly erode the human mind and body,
It is a terrible disease that can eventually take lives.

Therefore, the opposite of these excessive stress states, that is, the relaxed state, in other words, knowing the degree of comfort is very significant for protecting oneself from these diseases.

However, it has been very difficult to measure the degree of relaxation, that is, the degree of comfort. This is because comfort is a conceptual phenomenon and it was difficult to objectively grasp it as a physical or physiological phenomenon. As a method of measuring comfort, brain waves were separated and α waves were measured, but the measurement of α waves is complicated, and a large measurement environment and a large device to reduce variations are required. I couldn't do it easily because it was there. In addition, the analysis of the measurement result is difficult to interpret, and there is a problem in quantitativeness.

On the other hand, regarding the relationship between the immune function and the mental state, it has been known that the immune function may decrease in an extremely stressed state, but the relationship between comfort and immune function is completely known. It wasn't done. Further, the evaluation of cosmetics may be performed, for example, by evaluating the skin cosmetics with functions such as water retention ability, wrinkle improving action, and melanin production inhibiting action.
The cleaning power was evaluated by the detergency, and the questionnaire was used to evaluate whether the panelists liked or disliked it, but the comfort level was not evaluated. This is a big part of the cosmetics other than the functions such as water retention, wrinkle improvement, melanin production inhibition, and detergency, that is, the soft merit of feeling comfortable or relaxing. This is because there is no known means for objectively and quantitatively measuring this soft merit despite the existence value.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide means for quantitatively and easily measuring comfort. Further, it is an object to provide a method for evaluating a cosmetic product using the quantified comfort as an index.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the inventors of the present invention have conducted repeated studies on the effect of comfort on human physiology, and as a result, have altered immune functions and, in particular, increased secretory immunoglobulins. , Increased expression of CD receptor,
The inventors have found that there is a strong causal relationship with the enhancement of immune function against infection, such as an increase in natural killer cell activity, and completed the invention. That is, the present invention relates to a method for measuring comfort using a change in immune function as an index.

The immune function relating to the method for measuring comfort of the present invention covers immunity in general, but the major ones are increase / decrease of immunoglobulin, surface receptor expression level, cytotoxic activity and the like. Hereinafter, the relationship between these and comfort will be described in detail.

(1) Relationship between Immunoglobulin and Comfort Immunoglobulin (Ig) is a general term for proteins having a molecular structure as an antibody, such as complement fixation, cell adhesion, and placenta passage. Human immunoglobulins are roughly divided into five types according to the structure of the H chain involved in biological activity. That is, the H chain is IgG which is a gamma chain, IgA which is an alpha chain, IgM which is a mu chain, IgD which is a delta chain, and IgE which is an epsilon chain. Here, IgG is the most common immunoglobulin in higher animals such as amphibians and is known to bind to one molecule of complement in two molecules. It also has a placenta-passing property. IgA is the major immunoglobulin in exocrine fluid, does not bind complement and is not placental. IgM is the most primitive immunoglobulin, and it binds to one molecule of complement in one molecule and has high hemolytic activity.
Also, there is almost no placental passage. IgD has an independent H chain as an immunoglobulin having a molecular weight of about 170,000, but its antibody activity is unknown. It is known that IgE contains many polysaccharides. It is known as an antibody mainly produced in lymphatic tissues of the intestinal tract and trachea to cause anaphylaxis.

Among these immunoglobulins, in the assay method of the present invention, the rate of increase in IgA and the rate of decrease in IgE are used as indices of comfort. With respect to arbitrarily selected panelists, the present inventors have determined the secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) concentration in saliva and the IgE concentration in blood as the secretion amounts of IgA and IgE in a comfortable environment and an uncomfortable environment. As a result of measurement, sIgA correlates with the degree of comfort
It was found that the concentration of E. coli increased and the concentration of IgE decreased. That is, it can be understood from this that the change in comfort can be quantitatively measured by knowing the change in concentration.

(2) Relationship between CD receptor expression level and comfort CD receptor is a receptor existing on the surface of immunocompetent antibody or on the surface of granulocytes, and plays an important role in recognizing foreign substances. Therefore, the expression level of the CD receptor increases when the immune function is enhanced or when the biological defense mechanism is working due to infection or the like. CD receptors are classified into various types according to their structures and functions, and their expression levels can be measured by an antigen-antibody reaction by using respective monoclonal antibodies. As a result of investigating the relationship between comfort and these receptors using a panel arbitrarily selected by the present inventor, it was found that the expression levels of various CD receptors increased in correlation with the degree of comfort. That is, it can be understood from this that the degree of comfort can be quantitatively measured by knowing the change in the CD receptor expression level.

(3) Relationship between cytotoxic activity and comfort Cytotoxic activity is the main activity of the defense mechanism of granulocytes and natural killer cells. That is, it phagocytoses a heterologous organism that has invaded the body, or attacks with a cytotoxic factor or protease. That is, if the defense mechanism of these effecting cells related to immunity is activated, such cytotoxic activity is increased. Such cytotoxic activity removes blood,
Granulocytes are separated from this, and the marked target cells, for example, cancer cells labeled with radioisotopes such as opsonized zymosan and ⁵¹ Cr are added, and the oxygen radicals emitted by the effector cells such as luminol and luscheferin are added. It can be quantitatively measured by measuring the emission intensity of the chemiluminescent substance or by measuring the radioisotope leaked from the destroyed target as the emission intensity. The present inventors investigated the relationship between cytotoxic activity and comfort using arbitrarily selected panelists, and found a sexual correlation between the degree of comfort and the rate of increase in cytotoxic activity. That is, it was found that by knowing the amount of change in cytotoxic activity, the quantitative change in comfort can be understood.

In summary, it can be seen that the immune function is activated as the degree of comfort increases. Therefore, it is understood that the comfort can be measured by measuring the activation degree of the immune function. In other words, it is a feature of the present invention that the comfort that has been expressed by various emotional indexes by various subjective words can be expressed quantitatively and as a unified numerical value. The above-mentioned examples can be preferably exemplified as the index of the immune function, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The comfort thus obtained is a so-called soft merit of cosmetics, for example, whether it is comfortable to use or has a pleasant scent.
It can be used as an index for evaluation of items that make washing comfortable. Specifically, the immune function before and after the use of a cosmetic product is measured, and a cosmetic product having a higher rate of increase promotes comfort in use, and can be evaluated as having a great soft merit. . Here, the cosmetics include skin cosmetics represented by creams, milky lotions, lotions, foundations, powders, eye colors, lip colors, cheek colors, hair tonics, hair rinses, hair color cosmetics, shampoos. , Soap, toothpaste, cleansing agents such as mouthwash, bathing agents, room fragrances, car fragrances, fragrances such as perfumes, and the general term for these raw materials. Furthermore, the measuring method of the present invention can also be used for medical products.
There are many medical products such as cold compresses and warm compresses, in which the feeling of use other than the medicinal effects such as the actual anti-inflammatory effect is an important factor, and in the present invention, the good feeling of use is comfortably felt. It can be measured as Examples of such medical products include patches such as poultices, external skin preparations such as anti-inflammatory external preparations and analgesic external preparations, gargles, massage machines, and infrared irradiation machines. Comfort measured by the method of the present invention is not limited to cosmetics and medical products, comfort of living,
It can be used as an index for evaluating the soft merit of various products, such as the comfort of a car and the comfort of finished laundry.

[0014]

EXAMPLES The relationship between the above-mentioned changes in immune function and comfort will be described in more detail with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Five arbitrarily selected panelists stayed in a thermostatic chamber at 5 ° C for 30 minutes to collect blood and saliva, and then stayed at 25 ° C for 30 minutes to collect blood and saliva again. did. Various immune functions were measured from these collected saliva and blood, and their changes were examined. One day later, using the same panel, 25 ℃
Similarly, changes in various immune functions when staying at 30 ° C. for 30 minutes and then at 5 ° C. for 30 minutes were similarly determined.

Secretory immunoglobulin A (sI in saliva
Change of gA) sIgA in saliva collected was measured. The sIgA measurement was carried out according to the sandwich antibody method of Nishida et al. (“Medical Ayumi” 129 (11), 767-770,
1984).

A detailed description will be given below. The immobilized antibody used below was prepared as follows. Unpurified goat anti-human α-chain antibody (IgG fraction, CAPPEL) on the surface of polystyrene balls (diameter 6.5 mm, manufactured by Ichiko)
Co. (Manufactured by K.K.) was physically adsorbed and insolubilized. That is,
300 polystyrene balls were immersed in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) containing 0.03 mg / ml of the above antibody and stored overnight at 4 ° C. Furthermore, after soaking in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) containing 0.1% bovine serum albumin (hereinafter referred to as “BSA”) for one day and night, a 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) It was washed with and used as a solid-phased antibody.
Storage was at 4 ° C.

Next, a method for quantifying immunoglobulin using the above-mentioned immobilized antibody will be described. 0.2% BSA, 1
0.05 with% NaCl and 0.05% Tween 20
Standard secretory immunoglobulin A (s-Ig) diluted with M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5, hereinafter referred to as "buffer A")
A, CAPPEL Co. 100 μl of a solution or 100 μl of a sample obtained by diluting saliva 400 times with buffer A was injected into a test tube.

The above immobilized antibody (one polystyrene ball) was added to this test tube as the first antibody, and then, as the second antibody, a peroxidase-labeled rabbit anti-SC antibody (DAKOPATTS) diluted 400-fold with buffer A. Made)
300 μl was added. After incubation at 37 ° C. for 4 hours, polystyrene balls were washed 3 times with 1 ml of buffer A.

Then, the polystyrene ball was placed in a test tube containing 250 μl of 0.1 M citric acid-0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 4.7) containing 0.25% phenylenediamine and 0.015% hydrogen peroxide. Was transferred, incubated at 37 ° C. for 30 minutes, 2 ml of 1N sulfuric acid was added to the test tube to stop the enzymatic reaction, and the absorbance was measured at 492 nm.

The measurement results are shown in Table 1. From this, it is understood that the concentration of secretory immunoglobulin increases when the temperature shifts from 5 ° C. to 25 ° C., that is, when the comfort increases, and decreases in the opposite case. From this, it can be seen that there is a good correlation between the amount of change in immunoglobulin and the amount of change in comfort. That is, it is understood that the amount of change in comfort can be quantified by measuring the amount of change in sIgA. Regarding the blood of panelists A and B collected in the experiment of shifting from 5 ° C to 25 ° C, we asked a clinical laboratory contractor to measure the concentration of IgE. It was found that the concentration at 25 ° C decreased to 95% and 93% with respect to the concentration, and it was also found that the decrease in the concentration of IgE can be used as an index of comfort.

[0022]

[Table 1]

Relationship between CD receptor and comfort Among CD receptors, CD18, CD20 and CD38 were assayed for their expression levels in blood by antigen-antibody reaction. The measurement itself was outsourced to a measurement company. Regarding the measurement of these expression levels, there are some that have already done this and can be easily performed. Table 2 shows the results. From these results, it can be seen that all CD receptors increase / decrease according to the increase / decrease in comfort. That is,
The change in comfort can be measured by measuring the change in expression level of the CD receptor.

[0024]

[Table 2]

Relationship between natural killer cells and comfortability Using the method of Seo Ferrante (Seo Ferrr
ante et. al. , Int. Archs. All
ergy appl. Immun. 85, 410-41
5, (1988)) ⁵¹ Cr-labeled K562 cells were used as target cells to examine the cytotoxic activity derived from natural killer cells. That is, 100 μ curie of sodium chromate was allowed to act at 37 ° C. for 1 hour, and then K562 cells washed 3 times with MEM were concentrated to a concentration of 1 × 10 ⁵ cells / ml.
It was diluted with EM to obtain a target cell dispersion liquid. 0.1 ml of this target cell liquid and 0.1 ml of the blood collected above
Were mixed, incubated at 37 ° C. in the presence of 5% carbon dioxide gas for 4 hours, centrifuged at 800 G, and the radioactivity of chromium leaked into the supernatant due to cell damage was measured with a gamma counter. The results are shown in Table 3. More comfortable than this
It can be seen that the cytotoxic activity also increases / decreases in accordance with the decrease. It can be seen that the amount of change in comfort can be measured by measuring the amount of change in cytotoxic activity.

[0026]

[Table 3]

Example 2 Five panelists arbitrarily selected were allowed to stay in a thermostatic chamber at 25 ° C. for 1 hour. Nothing was done for the first 30 minutes, and after collecting blood and saliva, he listened to music (Mozart "Aine Kleine Nachtomzig") for 30 minutes and collected blood and saliva again. The same measurement as in Example 1 was performed on these saliva and blood. The results are shown in Table 4. From this, it can be seen that the immune function also changes according to the amount of change in comfort, as in Example 1. Therefore, it is understood that the comfort variation can be measured by measuring the immune function variation.

[0028]

[Table 4]

Example 3 Five arbitrarily selected panelists were allowed to stay in a thermostatic chamber at 25 ° C. for 1 hour. Do nothing for the first 30 minutes, collect blood and saliva for 30 minutes, then add perfume (phenethyl alcohol, 0.1 m
g / m ³ ) and blood and saliva were collected again. The same measurement as in Example 1 was performed on these saliva and blood.
The results are shown in Table 5. From this, it can be seen that the immune function also changes according to the amount of change in comfort, as in Example 1. Therefore, it is understood that the comfort variation can be measured by measuring the immune function variation.

[0030]

[Table 5]

Example 4 2 shown in Table 6 using 10 panelists selected arbitrarily.
As for the shampoo of each species, the immune function was measured using sIgA in saliva before and after use as an index in the same manner as above. At the same time, a questionnaire survey was conducted on shampoo preferences. The results are shown in Table 7. From this, it can be seen that shampoo, which is more preferred, has a higher immunity increase rate after use. Separately, the detergency of these two types of shampoos was evaluated by a panel of five expert panelists. As a result, no difference in detergency was found between the two. From these, it can be seen that the merit hidden in the portion other than the function can be accurately evaluated by the method of the present invention.

[0032]

[Table 6]

[0033]

[Table 7]

Example 5 2 shown in Table 8 using 10 panelists selected arbitrarily.
Similar to the above, for the various bath agents, changes in taste and immune function were examined from sIgA in saliva and a questionnaire. The two prescriptions that differ only in color differ in how they are preferred, and it can be seen that changes in immune function reflect this preference. It is also clear that the method of the present invention can evaluate the merit that cannot be measured by such a function.

[0035]

[Table 8]

[0036]

[Table 9]

Example 6 Three panelists suffering from stiff shoulders were massaged with a commercially available massage machine and changes in the immune status before and after the massage were measured by the above method using sIgA as an index. As a result, after the massage, the concentration of sIgA in saliva was increased by 12% on average as compared with before the massage. From this, it is understood that the measuring method of the present invention can be applied to medical products.

[0038]

According to the measuring method of the present invention, comfort, which is an abstract concept, can be quantitatively and objectively measured.
In addition, if this comfort is used as an index, the soft merit can be accurately evaluated.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for measuring comfort, which is characterized by using a change in immune function as an index. 2. The measuring method according to claim 1, wherein the change in immune function is the rate of increase in the concentration of secretory immunoglobulin in saliva. 3. The assay method according to claim 1, wherein the change in immune function is a rate of increase in the expression level of CD receptor in peripheral blood. 4. Changes in immune function are caused by natural
The measuring method according to claim 1, which is a rate of increase in killer cell activity. 5. A method for evaluating the soft merit of a product, which uses as an index the comfort measured by the measuring method according to claim 1. 6. The measuring method according to claim 5, wherein the product is a cosmetic product. 7. The measuring method according to claim 5, wherein the product is a medical product.